11 April 1976

Howard, Kenneth Percival Frederick (1913 - 1976)

HOWARD, KENNETH PERCIVAL FREDERICK (1913-1976), racecaller, was born on 2 December 1913 at Waverley, Sydney, son of Percival Thomas Howard, a window-dresser from Victoria, and his Sydney-born wife Brenda Florence, née Knight. As a schoolboy, Ken studied racing colours, breeding and records. He became a cadet journalist, probably on Truth, before joining radio station 2SM as a messenger-boy; in 1936 he made his first race broadcast from Moorefield as understudy to Reg McKenzie. A few years later Howard moved to radio 2KY. At the district registrar's office, Paddington, on 4 September 1939 he married Iris Adelaide, a hairdresser and daughter of the horse-trainer Joe Cook. In that year he replaced Melbourne radio station 3XY's racecaller Harry Solomons, gaoled for his role in a scheme to defraud starting-price bookmakers.